This is in spite of 25% of the Foras na Gaeilge budget coming from Northern Ireland. While some are inclined to blame Foras na Gaeilge, the blame for this latest turn of events goes to the North South Ministerial Council who signed off on this policy back in July 2013.

I recently submitted an essay which gave a more detailed account of the circumstances of this turn of events and there’s no point in repeating that here. If you want to learn more, have a read.

In the final analysis, this process was heavily weighted against the northern organisations. The organisations which won the gigs are only marginally concerned with matters north of the border, a fact illustrated recently by a press release listing the demands of Conradh na Gaeilge which hardly paid lip service to the concerns of the North’s Irish speakers.

If anyone thinks that Sinn Féin or the DUP or the Stormont bureaucracy will be sad to see the back of POBAL, they’re mistaken. This is a black day for the Irish language community in the north.